Monday Making

I am not sure how I will be arranging the blocks in my new quilt...

but I DO KNOW...I will be very happy

as I figure it out this week!!!

:)

How will YOU be ringing sewing in the new year???

Monday Making

The last MAKES before Christmas are now all done.

They're even wrapped!

I took leftover blackout curtain

and made a few little car trash bags for the young men in my family.

Do you know how hard it is to find gifts for that group??

This is one of the stocking stuffers.

I rolled them up and they stuff very nicely.

:)

I will now close the sewing machine

and MAKE some MEMORIES!!

Thanks to all of you for linking up week after week.

Here's hoping you have a wonderful Christmas!

Are YOU still making???

or...

are you ALL done??

Monday Making

I had company this week.

We had a great CRAFTY time!

Snowmen in Southern California are not wet and cold.

They are warm and cozy.

:)

It doesn't take much to make this kid friendly craft!

I love this project and enjoy having these little men sit on my sofa 

ALL through the Christmas season!!!

What are YOU making this week???

Monday Making

This is the month when Christmas happens in my sewing room.

It seems....if it doesn't involve Christmas...

It doesn't get sewn!

I am now adding some embroidery to these tiny trees.

:)

I am enjoying sewing this month!

The Christmas box of fabric is in the center of my sewing room.

It has been rifled through MANY times as I think of more things to SEW!

Not sure why I can't think of these items in November????

Wrapping presents can wait.

Making cookies can wait.

Caroling can wait.

I need to sew some Christmas!!

What are YOU making this week???

Christmas Quilt

Woo hoo!!

I finished a Christmas quilt (ahem....top only)

BEFORE Christmas!

The cornerstones are not 9 patches as directed.

I just had to change the pattern a bit to make it MINE!

:)

Don't you LOVE Red and green quilts???

Such a classic LOVELY combo!

They can be used and loved ALL year LONG!

The pattern for this quilt is here

Monday Making

December is HERE!

There are gifts to be made.

(Coasters for the football fan in my family.)

New quilts to BEGIN!

Here's the pattern you've probably seen elsewhere recently

from Temecula Quilt company.

I  have loved seeing all the pretty RED and GREEN quilts!

And quilted quilts to be bound.

Let the FUN begin!

What are YOU working on??

Monday Making

This week I did some Improvisational sewing.

Lots of little triangles pieced into strips

and THEN cut up into bigger triangles.

I'm not sure it matches my vision...

but it was a FUN experiment in Patience  piecing.

I also puzzled my orphan blocks into a square.

Some of these blocks are from blogland friends.

This quilt celebrates the love of quilting

and the loving quilting community!

Isn't that border fabric perfecto??

I had JUST enough

and I mean JUST ENOUGH!!!

There was less than an INCH left!

The border fabric IS pieced.

The perfectionists among us

wouldn't have used it.

BUT I DID!!!

And..

I didn't try to match up the prints to HIDE the seams!

Gasp.

There just wasn't enough fabric to do all that fussy work.

When there's the perfect fabric IN  YOUR STASH

you USE IT.

right?

What are YOU making this week???

Monday Making

I'm making a NEW quilt!

All orphans.

All Red and Green.

All for CHRISTMAS!!!

You wouldn't THINK of quilting as exercise....

BUT....let me tell you....

I worked on this for a few hours...and...

I am SORE!!

My design wall is the floor.

Getting up and down, moving blocks,

rearranging blocks, measuring the gaps....

REALLY gives those leg muscles a

WORK OUT!!!

:)

This week I will also be working on a little sweater.

There IS hope that I can do it before the cold weather is gone!

I had this along with me this weekend.

We visited our son in Iowa.

It was SUCH as surprise to walk into his place

and see a candle on a perfectly clean kitchen table!!

It was a miracle actually.

They DO grow up.

They DO become adults that know how to do grown up things!

They clean dishes.

They make beds.

When they're young....you wonder if it will ever happen!

I shed a few happy tears.

What are YOU making this week???

Monday Making

Whew!

It's finished.

I took a class from David Taylor last month.

A class sponsored by my local guild.

Taking guild classes is a GREAT opportunity to learn from

teachers around the globe!

Most of us chose this pattern and David gave us lots of great hints on applique.

I enjoyed the class and learned a lot.

But friends.....it's fussy.

I'm not fussy.

:/

The pieces SHOULD fit together like a puzzle.

Mine didn't.

I fudged.

I fudged QUITE a bit.

Shhh....

Don't tell.

Maybe I should teach a class on how to FUDGE!!!

HAhaha!!!

I'm pretty good at it.

I added some scrappy borders to the pillow.

Can you believe I didn't need to cut ANY out??

They were ALL there ready to go.

LOTS of BLUES in my 2 1/2" squares drawer.

Scraps to the RESCUE!

With Christmas on the horizon...

I was anxious to finish it!!!

Hopefully this week I'll get going on MORE HANDMADE gifts!

Link up and share what 

YOU are making this week!!!

weaving

My loom has been ALL set up to weave a runner

for a while now.

I FINALLY sat down and did it!

A wedding is on the horizon

and this will be my handmade gift!

:)

I love the blend of color these little runners give me.

As I weave, the runner is rolled up in the loom.

I'm never quite sure how all those colorful strips

will look together.

??????

I use leftover strips from quilting.

1"-2" wide.

ALL lengths.

Not uniform AT ALL.

 I enjoy the SURPRISE ending!

Monday Making

The sewing room is my guest room.

It is SO nice to have a place to sew.

But....When there are guests...

That place of sanity is NOT available.

That's o.k.

I wouldn't want to be squirreled away sewing

when I have guests!!!

But...

The MINUTE my company left today...

I made a MESS.

The fabric came out of hiding

and I began a new LITTLE project.

Coasters!

(The tutorial for this coaster is HERE)

Need to begin all that Christmastime MAKING!!!

What are YOU making this week???

Monday Making

This week I was able to add some borders to this quilt.

My daughter requested this quilt top

(made a few years ago)

when "shopping" in my PILE.

:)

I knew it needed to be bigger.

So....

VIOLA!

Borders to the rescue!

It is ALL sandwiched UP 

ready to be quilted!!

And..... I'M READY 

for a wrestling match!!!

That's essentially what it is FOR ME

when quilting anything bigger than TWIN size.

LOL!

What are YOU making this week??

Monday Making

One of my granddaughters turned ONE this week!!!

I know.

It happens SO FAST!

I really wanted to give my little one year old

something HANDMADE!

so....

I made her a dress.

A very simple dress.

I had an old vintage piece of linen

in my stash that was PERFECT 

for this pattern!!!

I LOVE the way it turned out.

I used this pattern as my 

"jumping off" place.

And since this little one lives far away...

It's a MIRACLE it FITS!!!

:)

What are YOU making this week???

Monday Making

Not only do I have FABRIC stash...

I also have a YARN stash.

😐😉😉

And....

It has to be DEALT WITH occasionally.

I have to put forth some effort in DEPLETEING

all that yarn!!

All those little yarn balls have to BECOME SOMETHING!!!

This is my little effort towards that goal.

A little something.

A small move in the RIGHT direction.

I'm USING yarn

and not

BUYING MORE!!!!

haha

(This is a toddler vest I'm working on

similar to the one in this post)

What are YOU making???

Monday Making

This week I will attempt to make progress on this old UFO

handed down to me.

The 16 dresden plates were sewn together...

but had not been appliqued.

I have finished six and today I was able to play around with CIRCLES.

What color will I use??

I also did some mock ups with some border strips.

Hmm.....???

Lots of quilty thinking ahead. 

My FAVORITE kind of think to THINK!

I am using 12" background squares.

A variety.

I fold them in half twice and press.

Then I center the dresden plate

and use a BIG stitch on my machine 

to baste it down.

Just two lines.

It's been working just fine.

I am doing needle turn applique all the way around the outside.

I will THEN go back and add the centers 

when I decide what color(s) I will choose.

I kind of like the mix of GREEN, BLUE, YELLOW

I have chosen so far!

:)

What are YOU making???

Monday Making

I made a simple quilt this week.

A quilt FULL of scrappy strips is a favorite of mine.

I did add some bigger chunks....

just because.

:)

Some of these scraps go WAY back.

I ran out of the blue binding fabric and 

absolutely LOVE the yellow blue stripey addition there!

I broke one of my sewing "personal challenges"

and BOUGHT backing fabric!!

LOL!

Isn't it cute???

Yes...

I was tempted to buy a lot more!

I also finished this quilt this week.

After mending it

and quilting it

and binding it...

I have given myself an honorary degree.

HARD WON, mind you.

Some of you read last week's post.

I did NOT end up appliqueing the open seams.

I ripped a little and sewed a little

and fretted a lot.)

You can now refer to me as.....

"the QUILT DOCTOR"

This honorary degree is given after

many hours of repair using specialized equipment.

(seam ripper, scissors, sewing machine, needles, etc.)

It is earned after at least 5 quilts are

mended in a satisfactory way.

Satisfactory requirements state that the quilt must be USABLE.

These quilts never are quite right in the end.

Just like broken body parts...

there are scars.

But....they WORK

and they look ALMOST just right.

;)

I have mended quilts like this at least 5 times...

so I consider myself to have earned this

AWESOME degree!!!

I'm OFF to order a wooden sign.

I will have my new LOGO engraved on it

and it will hang PROUDLY at my front door.

:)

what are YOU making this week???